In 1943, the Earl E. May Seed Company of Shenandoah, Iowa, entered into an agreement with Iowa State College (University) to fund basic research into the corns and corn relatives native to Mexico and Central and South American countries in order to determine if traits from these plants could contribute to corn yields in the United States. The funding was allocated to the Department of Botany under the direction of Irving E. Melhus.



These investigations led to a conference held in Ames, Iowa, in November 1945, attended by members of the Guatemalan Ministry of Agriculture. At this conference the two institutions agreed to cooperate to establish a Tropical Research Center at Antigua, Guatemala. The Center was largely funded through grant monies from the Earl E. May Seed Company and all research operations were directed by Melhus. The Guatemalan national government provided plots of land and trained staff to help conduct experiments and Iowa State provided expert personnel to lead the research operations of the Center.



A formal memorandum of understanding was finalized in May 1946 and expired after five years. Studies focused on understanding the food plants native to Guatemala, particularly corn and its wild ancestor teosinte.